Around Here editor/writer

Authorities arrested two archery hunters in Madison County on Saturday, the first day of the 2012 deer season, after a state game officer spotted them smoking marijuana before they entered the woods.

“I had already found bait on the property and that’s why I was working the property to see if anybody was going to hunt over it,” state Department of Natural Resources Conservation Officer Shane Sartor said Tuesday.

Sartor was parked in a hidden location, but could observe the men about 5 p.m. at the wooded area off Georgia Highway 72 outside Comer near the South Fork Broad River.

“They started getting in their camouflage and started passing what I believe to be a marijuana cigarette between them,” he said. “They walked into the woods and I followed them. They didn’t go toward the bait, so when they split up I went ahead and stopped the one I was following.”

Clinton P. Chapman, 35, and Larry S. Roberts, 38, both of Providence Road, Athens, were charged with hunting under the influence of drugs and possession of marijuana. Chapman was also charged with hunting without a big game license.